Hide and Seek
by Camille22
Summary: AU. Emma is three years old when the curse hits. Her parents tell her they're going to play a game; Hide and Seek.


**Here I am with a shot, or maybe not so a shot because I don't know if it's going to have a second part, and just that.**

**I hope you like it, and just going to clarify something. When one word is in _italic _and little Emma is speaking is because she's saying that that way and the word is written like that on purpose, just saying for if someone's confused.**

**Please let me know what you think! :)**

* * *

Snow tightens her jaw and runs through the hallway as loud noises are coming at her ears. Her fingers cling to the small bag she's carrying in her hand because that bag is something that her little girl will need.

She swallows hard when her hands open the door that she was running to.

Her three years old daughter turns and smiles up at her. "Mommy!"

Snow walks into the room and bends over to watch her baby. Emma continues to play with her toys, sitting on the floor, unaware of the danger that is surrounding them. Tears start to get formed into her green eyes, so she just gets up and goes to the corner of the room. She takes Emma's baby blanket and her favorite teddy.

"Mommy! Why you taking Ms. Swan?! She's sleeping!"

"I'm sorry baby, but I think you're going to need her." Emma frowns but says nothing as to her mother about her. "Come here." She take the bag with one hand and takes her daughter with her other hand.

"We going to the _foest_!" Emma smiles, taking her baby blanked and her teddy as loud noises and screams can be heard from outside. "What's that Mommy?"

"Emma... you remember the last story I told you?" Snow starts walking out of the room and looking intently in all directions. They still aren't coming to them.

"About the Queen that was good and now is evil. _Pood_ Queen!"

"Yes." Snow settles quickly, walking as fast as she can across the hallway. "That story was true. And now the Queen is coming to here because she... she's not happy with us."

"So what?" Emma shrugs; clinging to her baby blanket as her mother walks in what was her room before. She said it is still her nursery. "_Nusedy_! Why a we _hee_?"

Snow walks further inside the room as she feels the door opening behind her. She quickly turns around, ready to fight with her daughter in her arms and all, but she sighs of relief when she sees her husband.

"Daddy!" Emma yells, spreading her little arms to him. Snow's eyes widen when she sees blood through his white shirt on his shoulder. "Daddy what's that?"

"It's nothing, princess." He smiles, walking over to them.

"Are you okay?" Snow question quickly, knowing what he's going to answer anyway. He nods and walks over to kiss Emma's forehead.

More shouts and blows are heard outside, and Emma frowns. "Why is people _sceaming_? You told me I can't _sceam_, Mommy."

"We have to hurry, Snow."

"Okay, okay..." Both of them bend over, and Snow leaves Emma on the ground. "Emma, you have to put this, okay? It has many pears and cookies."

Emma smiles, looking inside the bag that her mother just put on her. "Yummy!"

"Here..." Snow says, trying to hold back tears. "Take this." She gives to her her teddy and her baby blanket. "Now I need you to listen to me, okay Emma?" Emma frowns but nods. "The Queen is coming, and... she's not happy with us, she is very angry with me. She doesn't like us."

"She's a bad Queen then." Emma nods, shrugging.

Snow nods. She looks to Charming, and her heart breaks more to see tears already falling from his eyes. She sighs and looks over to her beautiful, perfect baby girl. She's still watching her, with her big blue-green eyes, her blond curls falling into her beautiful little face. She can't hold the tears anymore.

"Mommy, you's sad?"

"No, no." Snow shakes her head quickly, taking her small hands in hers. "The Queen is coming, but I need us to play a game."

"Yeah!" Emma smiles excited. "What game?"

"Hide and Seek." Charming says, and Emma looks at him, her smile just widening. "You have to count, and then you'll find us."

"'Kay! 'Cause I's good finding you!" Emma jumps of joy, and Charming smiles tearfully, approaching to her to kiss her forehead.

"I love you, princess."

Emma smiles. "Love you too Daddy!" She jumps but in fright when loud noises are heard from outside. "I not like that noise!"

Snow and Charming look at each other, and they know what to do. Charming shares a kiss with her before he gets up, pulling out his sword. Emma's eyes widen in surprise, and she doesn't understand why her Daddy's crying when he looks at her, but she says nothing. Mommy told her that sometimes people cry because they are happy, too. Her Daddy looks at her once more before leaving the room, and she looks back to her Mommy, and sees as she closes her eyes and more tears runs through her face.

"Mommy not _cy_! I's gonna _daw _you _late'_ so you'll be happy!"

"Yes, you can… draw me when all this is over. I promise."

Her Mommy takes her into a tight hug. She smiles because she loves hugs, more if they are from Mommy and Daddy. But then Mommy moves away, she is still crying, so Emma frowns. She wants to know why, but Mommy gets up and both of them walk to a small wardrobe, she thinks. It's all of wood.

Mommy kisses her forehead tightly. "Can you give a kiss to Mommy?"

Emma smiles and Mommy crouches down. She kisses her cheek hard and Mommy kisses her forehead again, as some water drops on her forehead. She knows that tears are water, so she knows it's Mommy's tears.

"Here." Mommy points to the small wardrobe. "You're going to sit there and you're going to count to ten as you know, my smart girl."

Emma nods and smiles. "Yeah! I's a good finde'! I always find you!"

"Yeah, and now you're going to do it again. You'll find us. We love you, don't ever forget that. You're everything, Emma, everything."

Mommy helps her sit inside the wardrobe, still with the bag hanging on her, and her baby blanket and Miss Swan.

"Emma."

Emma looks up at her, because Mommy's tone is serious, like when she gets into trouble, or she kicks and screams. But now Mommy doesn't seem angry, she seems sad, though she smiles to her. Emma doesn't know why she might be sad, but she knows that when she finds her she will be happy. She and Daddy always smile and laugh when she finds them.

"I love you _so_ much."

Emma smiles widely. "I love you lots too Mommy!"

She leaves Miss Swan and her baby blanket at her sides, and raises her hands to cover her eyes.

"One, two, _thee_..." Then she hears a small noise, and when she pulls her hands from her eyes, she sees the wardrobe doors closed.

Emma opens her mouth to call for her Mommy, but quickly her eyes are closed and she feels like she's falling. Her small hands quickly cling to Miss Swan and her baby blanket, and she wants to open her eyes and call out for Mommy and Daddy, because they are the ones who always grab her when she falls. And she is falling now.

Then, she finally feels as she falls on something. She's very scared now, and she feels the tears falling down her face. Her lip is trembling as she opens her eyes slowly. The wardrobe doors are open, but she's not in her nursery.

She's in the forest. She has been there before. Many trees and birds, and flowers. She loves it, but not now. Now she wants Mommy and Daddy.

"Mommy? Daddy?" She murmurs, because she can't understand. She was in her nursery, and now she's in the forest. How is that possible?

The three-year-old swallows and jumps out of where she was. She turns around and sees that she was in a tree, not a wardrobe. Emma frowns as she clings to her baby blanket and Miss Swan. She turns and looks again everywhere, seeing nothing but huge trees.

"Mommy? Daddy!" She screams this time, beginning to sob louder. She looks around, but they are not around. Whenever she calls them, they come at her. "Mommy! Daddy! I not wanna play this game _anymoe_!"

And little Emma turns to look around her, but no one appears. No one is close, not even Auntie Red, or Johanna, or anyone. But she wants Mommy and Daddy, and she wants them now. Her lip begins to tremble again as more tears come out from her eyes.

"Mommy! Daddy!" She screams as loud as she can, but no one answers.

She's not supposed to be alone in the forest. She has to be there with Mommy and Daddy, because they promised her that they'd go to the forest today and have fun, because today it's her birthday.

But Mommy and Daddy aren't there. It's just her.

* * *

"Hey, Emma."

Emma looks up to see Nick walking to her. She just lets him sit at her side, in the other hammock. He's the most friendly of the children. They're four in the house. Now she is with the Parkers. They are not aggressive or evil, but they don't care for them either. They just feed them, send them to school, and then send them to sleep. That's all. She already knows that they're just tickets for money for them.

"What are you doing here all alone? You should be sleeping."

Emma looks at him. "You should be too."

"I saw that you weren't in your bed and got curious. What is it?"

He already seems to know her well. He could be her friend, but she doesn't want to become attached to him so much. She already has been in five different houses; she knows she will be transferred to another home anytime.

So Emma just shrugs. "Today is my birthday."

Nick seems happy about it, but Emma doesn't blame him, he doesn't know. "Well, happy birthday Emma!"

She never says Thanks after those three words. She doesn't like it, why should she? She knows that she was found in the woods five years ago. Exactly on this day. Her birthday. That birthday was awful enough, but now Emma thinks this one is worst.

"I was found in the woods five years ago." Emma begins, and she looks up to see Nick's smile disappearing. "I know, but I'm not sad about it today."

The boy frowns. "You're not?"

Emma feels tears forming in her eyes, and she bites her lip to feel a hard knot in her throat. She can't cry. And she keeps it there, but it starts to hurt. The lump in her throat starts to really hurt, but she can't mourn. She's already been punished for crying.

"I – I can't..." Tears come out from her eyes, and she bites her lip harder. "I can't remember their faces anymore."

"What?"

"My parents." And she looks to him, tears streaming down her cheeks quickly. "I can't remember their faces anymore. I just can't."

"I'm sorry, Emma."

Emma looks down again, and just let the tears fall down her face. She could remember their faces before, though she has already forgotten their voices a long time ago. She cried for it too. But now she can't remember their faces, no matter how many times she closes her eyes and tries to remember.

She never remembered anything about them, but their faces and voices. Now that she lost that about them too. If she ever finds them on the street, she won't be able to recognize them. Would they? Would they recognize her?

She remembers that they loved her. Or at least she wants to believe that. Why would they abandon her if they loved her? It doesn't make sense.

* * *

She has skipped school, but no one will notice her absence. No one ever notice her presence, so she can just run away. She likes to sit in the park and see mothers play with their children.

She's a masochist for wanting to see that. Something she will never have, or that she never had. She can't remember, but she knows she never had it. She just wonders why they kept her for three years if they were going to leave her like that.

In the woods. With a bag of pears and cookies. Her baby blanket, and a stuffed animal. Maybe they did care for her at least a little, leaving her some food.

But they left her anyway. Are they together now? Living a happy life without her? She will never know, because they didn't even leave any kind of track. It's as if they never existed, and she can't remember their names, either.

They were always Mommy and Daddy. Now they are the woman who gave birth to her, and the man who impregnated her.

They can be together now, but she doesn't care. She wants them to be unhappy, though. As much as she is, because no one will ever love her. Everyone knows and says that.

And Emma knows it too, even being just a twelve years old girl. No one ever will love her, why? Because even her parents couldn't love her. If she wasn't good enough for them, she's not going to be good enough for anyone.

* * *

"What's this?"

Emma turns around and looks to her boyfriend. Neal is looking at a drawing. Her special drawing. The only way she has to know that her mother has black hair and her father is blond. Or maybe she had those colors on hand and drew that, but she wants to believe it's because their hairs are of that colors.

"A drawing. I made it the day they found me in the woods." She says getting closer to him and sitting down at his side. They are in another hotel room while the occupants are away.

"So you were an artist?" He laughs, probably trying to ease the atmosphere, and she laughs with him, looking down to the drawing.

The day she knew how to write, she wrote Mommy and Daddy above the people on the paper. One person has a kind of white dress and long black hair, another person has just yellow and short hair, and the small person between them has long, yellow hair. When she was six she believes she still remembered their faces, so she just wrote their names above them. And a "Me" above herself.

"So you think you have your father's hair?" Emma shrugs, leaning her head on his shoulder as her eyes are still on the drawing. "You don't remember anything about them? Nothing?"

"I remembered something a year ago. I don't know if it's good or bad." She lifts her head from his shoulder and sees his eyes towards her, wanting to know more. "There was a time I wanted to believe that they were poor and therefore they couldn't keep me, but I remembered that they were rich."

"Rich?" Neal says in amazement.

"Yeah. Kind of. I remember living in a great place... running through large hallways. We had a good life."

Neal looks at the drawing and frowns. "Maybe they had to." He looks up to her again. "Leaving you."

"Or maybe something happened and they had to choose between money and me. So they chose the money."

She sees something changes in Neal's face. He becomes serious but his eyes are sad. She knows that his parents abandoned him too. His mother ran away with a man, and his father just left him.

"My father had to choose between power or me. You can guess what he chose."

Emma placed a hand on his shoulder and sighs. "You still remember him?"

"Yeah, sometimes I prefer not to, but I prefer to remember him. That way, if one day I see him again, I will try to evade him."

Emma nods, because she can't blame him. She wants to remember her parents, but she doesn't want to see them again. They left her, that's it. They have no right on her, as she has no right on them.

"What's this?" Neal says finding a small newspaper. It's of the day in which a woman and her husband found her. "Here it says a ten-year-old boy was also found. You've never contacted him? Maybe he was your brother?"

Emma shakes her head. "I never saw him. And then, if I had a brother, I would have drawn him into the drawing. I think I was an only child."

"But it's strange... two children abandoned in the woods?"

Emma shrugs. "Maybe our parents were friends and they left both of us."

"You don't want to find him? This boy?"

"I tried to find something of him, but all I know is that he disappeared the day after that he was found. I don't know his name, or anything." Neal looks back to the newspaper and nods. "I'm fine like this, on my own."

He turns to save the newspaper where it was, and then she heard him giggling. She frowns, and when he turns around again, she smiles and throws him one of her "are you serious" looks, according to him.

"I know, I know..." He laughs slightly. "I have to leave Miss Swan alone, right?"

Emma squints her eyes at him and take the teddy from his hands. "Yeah, both of them."

"Hey!"

"Do not make fun of her. She's been through a lot; mud, stagnant water, and yet she's fine. Plus, she's the reason of who I am now."

"Yeah, a Swan."

"Leave her alone, or you'll know me, Cassidy."

Neal laughs again. "Okay, okay. I'll see if they left some food before we leave." He gets up and goes to the small kitchen in the place, as she looks down to her favorite teddy. Her swan.

She was so lost that she just knew her name, and _where is Mommy and Daddy_, so the people who found her said she had no name, but they could call her Emma Swan. So she is Emma Swan. She likes it very much, and she's always had this stuffed swan.

The swan and her baby blanket. Wherever she goes, they are with her . Neal knows how important they are to her, and he mocks her but in a good way. Sometimes children are cruel. When she was in the system many of them always wanted to break her swan or baby blanket, or always mocked her for that.

The first time she broke a nose she was six, and it was because an older child wanted her to break her beautiful swan.

When she was seven she believed she had lost all she had of her parents; their faces and voices. But she didn't. And though she hates it, she knows she clings to her swan and baby blanket more than anything because that's the last thing she has from her parents.

She's not going to lose them too.

* * *

"You have to remember them!"

Emma rolls her eyes. "Henry, please, not now."

It's been three months since she's in Storybrooke; since her son found her. He always says that fairy tales are real; that she's the Savior, and the daughter of Snow White and Prince Charming. She's read the book; there's a little girl, Snow White's daughter, Emma, who is three years old when her mother has to put her in the wardrobe and send her through it, to this world.

And Henry says Mary Margaret, her roommate _and_ friend, is Snow White, that David Nolan is Prince Charming, and that she is the Savior, their daughter.

"Here you go." Mary Margaret says as she walks over to them, sitting in front of her and next to Henry, placing a tray with three cups of hot chocolate. With cinnamon. "Henry, please tell me your mother know you're here."

Incredibly, Henry nods, taking his cup. "Yeah, with the proviso that if I heard something about you and Mr. Nolan I would have to tell her."

Mary Margaret chokes with her cocoa as Emma shakes her head. "What's her problem? I swear –"

"Emma." Mary Margaret says in a serious tone, which makes Emma look at her in confusion, as if she has heard that tone before. She blinks and shakes her head gently, knowing what she meant. _Not in front of Henry_.

"Hey, I have an idea." Henry says, and both women look at him. "What if we play a game?"

"I have a few games..." Mary Margaret begins, and Emma nods, getting to know them so well. They played all of them; it's very boring to Emma, but it seems that makes Mary Margaret happy, so she just imitates her.

"Hide and Seek?" Henry asks, smirking.

Emma moves uncomfortably in her seat. She's never liked that game. Whenever she had to play it out of obligation, she was good at it, but she never liked it. "I don't know kid, this is a small space." Henry's face falls in a second, and she feels so guilty. He has no friends, no one to play it, and she doesn't see Regina playing it with him. So she smiles up at him. "Okay, I'll count."

"Great!" Henry jumps out of his seat, and Mary Margaret seems uncomfortable about it.

"If you don't want to play, it's okay." Emma says to see her face. "It's your house."

Mary Margaret sighs and shakes her head. "It's your house too, Emma." She then smiles and gets up. "I'll play of course, if you still have to count."

"Yeah, okay, go."

"Until 30!" Henry says as she approaches a wall and turns.

Emma closes her eyes as memories quickly come to her mind. Memories of when she was a little girl and she had to play it, and count. She never did. She always refused to do it. She always hated counting, so she would just get out of the game because the kids said she was a cheater. But now she's an adult, and she can count, of course.

"One, two, three..." She says with a smile, but then the smile quickly disappears.

_One, two, thee…_

Emma keeps her eyes closed but remains silent. She can no longer count, not because she doesn't know the numbers, she can count since she was three years old, though she knew just until 10, but she knew. But she can't. And she won't keep counting. She hates it.

"Emma?" Mary Margaret says behind her, and she turns around, and frowns to see her worried expression. "You okay?"

Emma sees Henry at her side. "Yeah, why?"

"Well, you weren't counting, and it has passed like two minutes."

"What?" Emma says quickly, because that's not true. She hasn't been just standing against the wall for two minutes.

"We can play a board game if you want." Henry offers, a little worried.

"Yeah, we'll do that." Mary Margaret responds quickly, rushing to get to the game.

"Are you okay? You sure?" Henry asks, his brow furrowing as every time he's worried. Emma can notice that after these months.

"Yeah kid, why wouldn't I?"

He laughs slightly. "You should have seen your face when you turned around. That's why."

"Yeah well, don't make fun of me. Now I'm going to win this game." Henry shakes his head and runs happily to sit in a chair, as she sits in front of him.

"How many times she's won you, Miss Blanchard?"

Mary Margaret shrugs as she walks to them, the game box in her hands. "Maybe two times?"

"Hey! It's more than that!" Emma fights quickly.

"Sure." Henry adds with a mischievous smile.

She actually gets one of the best evenings of her life, with her son and her best friend. They laugh a lot, and they play three games before it's time that Henry has to go to Regina. And when to Henry's gone, she still continues to play with Mary Margaret, and then they have dinner and then to bed. It was a fabulous day.

But that night Emma has a nightmare, or so she believes. She thinks she hears screams and blows, but she doesn't know where she is, or from where those noises are from.

* * *

Henry hugs her as hard as he can. She wraps her arms around him; she doesn't want to let him go, not again, but she has to. For his sake. She can't continue these fights with Regina, she has to leave the town, and that's what she will do. And this is her farewell with Henry, her son... her boy. She will continue seeing him, no way she's saying goodbye to him forever, because she can't. Not again.

"What –" Henry tries to say, but she quickly moves him away and takes his face in her hands.

"Henry." He moves his eyes to her, and she smiles slightly, even though the tears are splashing from her eyes. "I love you."

She has to tell him. He needs to know, because he couldn't know the last time she said goodbye. And now she can tell him, so she does. For a moment, Henry is confused, but then he smiles.

"I love you too."

Emma's smile widens, and she crouches slightly, pressing her lips for the first time in her son's forehead. She couldn't do it when he was a baby, because if she held him, she'd keep him. But now she can.

She's her son, her little boy, and even if she's away from him, she will never leave him again.

Suddenly, they feel a strong wind around them, forcing them to close their eyes tightly. The wind becomes stronger, and Henry extends his hand to take Emma's, though he can't see anything, but he can't get to her. The wind suddenly disappears, and he opens his eyes immediately.

Emma's not there. He looks everywhere but doesn't see her anywhere. "Emma!" He screams confused and scared. He runs upstairs, but she's not there either. He goes downstairs again and he looks to his backpack; his book is out of it. He walks over to it and crouches, watching the page in which the book is open.

Prince Charming kissing Snow White, breaking her curse.

Henry frowns, but then a small smile begins to form on his face. He closes his book and puts it in his backpack before taking it and running out of the house.

Emma broke the curse. She kissed him with a True Love's Kiss. The wind was because she broke the curse. He has to find Snow and Charming, and find Emma with them. They are awake, finally.

He runs out of the building and sees how people are running around, finding their loved ones. He smiles broadly and puts his backpack on his back, starting to run.

Ruby is Red, and Red is Snow White's best friend, so she can help him find her. But he doesn't need it, because when he's coming to Granny's, he sees the dwarves, Red, Granny, and his grandparents. Snow and Charming.

"Now, now I find my daughter." Snow says, and he smiles, walking over to them.

"Grams?" He says in his little voice, totally shy. Snow and Charming turn around, and he smiles when he sees tears in Snow's eyes. Tears of joy.

"Oh, Henry."

He assumes that she's like that to realize that he's her grandson, so he walks over to her and wraps his arms around her. She hugs him too, and he also feels someone hugging him. He looks up and sees David, his grandfather.

After a few seconds, he moves away from them, and sees Snow looking in all directions, as if she's waiting to see someone.

"Emma broke the curse. And a strong wind surrounded us. I had to close my eyes, and when the wind stopped, she wasn't there anymore." Henry explains quickly, seeing the worry forming in David and Snow's faces.

Snow looks up to David, totally worried. "Where can she be? We have to find her."

"I think I know where she is." Henry says, earning his grandparents' eyes again.

* * *

Emma opens her eyes and frowns to see where she is. She feels something in her arms, so she looks down and her eyes widen at the sight of her baby blanket in one of her hands, and her swan in her other hand. She's sitting in wet soil, and she's in the forest.

How is that even possible? She was with Henry in her home, saying goodbye to him. Then a great wind was formed when she kissed him on his forehead, and now she's in the forest.

"What the hell?" Emma says as she gets up.

Why is she in the forest? She doesn't know, but she needs to get out of here and gets back to Henry. Someone must have kidnapped her, or something like that, and maybe Henry's in danger, she needs to get back to him. She starts to walk, but then something stops her.

_We going to the foest!_

Emma quickly stops and looks around her. It's getting dark, and she just heard a voice. A little girl's voice. "Who's there?"

Nobody answers, and she feels something hit her stomach. She's been through this before, she can feel it. Screaming in the forest and no answering back. Her eyes fill with tears as she feels something. A memory.

She has been in a forest before. They found her in the forest, and it was night when they found her. She had been walking around the woods all day, eating pears and cookies that her... mother put on the bag.

_"What's your name, honey?"_

_"Emma. You know whee my Mommy and Daddy is?"_

_"No sweetie, are you all alone here?"_

_"I – I can't find them... but I always do."_

She keeps walking, but more slowly, with her gaze lost. She feels lost. Maybe she has always felt lost and now she can see it again. She looks at her hands again; she's in the same way to when she was abandoned.

She keeps walking, but more slowly, with her gaze lost. She feels lost. Maybe she has always felt lost and now she can see it again. She looks at her hands again, she's in the same way to when she was abandoned.

_I need us to play a game._

_Yeah! What game?_

_Hide and Seek. You have to count and then you'll find us._

'_Kay! 'Cause I's good finding you!_

She can remember them again. Their voices. They're in her mind again, she can feel them. She has to remember their faces again. She can do it. She can remember them and find them.

_Mommy not cy! I's gonna daw you late' so you'll be happy!_

_Yes, you can... draw me when all this is over. I promise._

Hide and Seek. They were playing Hide and Seek. She had to count, and then she would find them. Maybe it's not too late.

_You're going to sit there and you're going to count to ten as you know, my smart girl. _

_Yeah! I's a good finde'! I always find you!_

_Yeah, and now you're going to do it again. You'll find us. We love you, don't ever forget that. You're everything, Emma, everything._

She had to count to ten. She could do it, but then something stopped her. She could never finish counting... that's why she always get stuck when playing that game. She has never finished counting. If she finishes counting, she will find them. At least she'll remember their faces, she knows it. She has to do it.

"One, two, three..." She whispers, her eyes on the ground as she continues walking slowly.

_One, two, thee…_

Emma feels a lump in her throat as more tears are forming in her eyes. She lets them fall into her cheeks, and for the first time in many years, she can keep counting. "Four, five, six..."

_I love you, princess._

_Love you too Daddy!_

She's almost there. She can hear their voices more clearly now. They call for her, they say they love her. She sees two people running towards her, making her laugh, grabbing her every time she falls and wiping the tears away.

Emma lets out a sob. "Seven, eight, nine..."

_Emma... you remember the last story I told you?_

_About the Queen that was good and now is evil. Pood Queen!_

_Yes. That story was true. And now the Queen is coming to here because she... she's not happy with us._

Now she remembers how she scurried in their bed when she was afraid. Mommy would wrap her in her arms and she would sleep safe in that way, the next day she'd wake up with a Daddy's kiss. They were always there for her. Always.

Mommy is beautiful, she knows it. She has long black hair, and green eyes, and Daddy always says that she's just like Mommy, though Mommy says the same about her and Daddy, because Daddy has yellow hair and blue eyes. He's all a Prince and she's his Princess. He always says it so, but Mommy would get mad because she says that she's her princess too. She's their princess, their everything, and she knows it.

Emma clings to her swan and baby blanket as she looks up. "Ten."

She closes her eyes again, slowly. She has finished counting, finally. She must be able to see their faces now. She has to. She has to find them.

_Mommy? Daddy? _

_Mommy? Daddy! _

_Mommy! Daddy! I not wanna play this game anymoe!_

She's still with her eyes closed, their faces still aren't on her mind, but she can remember some things about them. They always hugged her, kissed her and always were saying how much they loved her. That's why she found nothing unusual her last day with them.

"Please, please." Emma whispers to herself.

_Emma._

"Emma." She hears behind her. The same word, the same tone. And she opens her eyes.

_I love you _so_ much._

That was the last time she saw her mother. She was sitting in the wardrobe, with her swan and her baby blanket, and a bag full of pears and cookies. She had looked up to her, because she knew that tone was serious.

She can see them now. She can remember their faces now. Mommy and Daddy.

Emma turns around, and looks up to her.

_I love you lots too Mommy!_

They are looking at her as if she's the most precious thing in their worlds. They always told her so.

Emma wants to curls up on her bed with her swan and her baby blanket as she always did when she was scared, and when she wanted her parents back. But now she remembers where she went when she was scared; to Mommy and Daddy's arms. And now she can have them again.

Mary Margaret. Snow. Mommy walks to her and takes her face in her hands, as her eyes fills with more tears. She smiles and then, finally, wraps her in her arms. Emma rests her chin on her shoulder and sees as David – Charming – Daddy, walks to them and touches her head, pressing her to him, hugging them both.

"You found us." Her mother whispers in her ear.

Emma feels her swan and her baby blanket in her arms, but she can now have more than that just from them. She lets them fall down and wraps her arms around her parents, closing her eyes and letting the tears stream down her face.

"_Mommy! Daddy! Found you! Told you I's good!"_

"_You are, princess, as always."_

"_You will always find us as we will always find you, Emma."_

"_I know!"_

It's over. The game is over. She found them.


End file.
